[Official 2005 Game Design] OK, so YOU design the 2005 game...

[crazyone]

Originally Posted by crazyone

( I will try to draw this field layout up and post as soon as possible )

Just a quick update on the field drawing: I'm in the last week of school and have only until THIS THURSDAY to finish the field and post it, because on friday I graduate. I can say though I'm very close to having it complete.

[crazyone]

Originally Posted by crazyone

Just a quick update on the field drawing: I'm in the last week of school and have only until THIS THURSDAY to finish the field and post it, because on friday I graduate. I can say though I'm very close to having it complete.

Finally it is done, now here it is:

[IndianChieftain]

i think most of the teams have fallen in love with the '03 and '04 games and are very interested in boxes and balls. there are very interesting ideas on this thread about the '05 game, but most of them have been built on the '03 and '04 competitons. my team was a rookie in '04 and we found it extremely interesting, but if the same patterns are followed, i dont think that any new thought would have been put forth for new stratergies.

i might be wrong

[kpugh]

I think it would add an interesting element if the game somehow involved those shape-sorting toys that you played with in pre-school. The one where you had the box with the different shaped holes on top, and you had to put the appropriate shaped piece into the matching hole.

http://www.babyheirlooms.com/product/shape_n_sort.cfm

The different shapes could all be worth different point values. Teams could choose to build something to handle only one of the shapes, or go all out and be able to handle all 3 (or 4 or however many there are).

[IndianChieftain]

The shapes idea has already been thought of by another, smaller robotics competion in canada(skillz robotics, i think). i also think that sorting with a human player wud be kinda easy.

[andy]

I read this somewhere on chiefdelphi along time ago (and I would give credit to whomever came up with this but alas, I cannot remember)

It was posted as a joke, "evidence" of next years game. The person had claimed to have found (at FIRST HQ) hundreds of the new game pieces; 2 liter soda bottles.

I thought this was rather hilarious, but then I began to think. Soda bottles would be REALLY good game pieces, with their labels removed of course (or should they remain on for a potential sponsor?). They are cheap, readily available, and must conform to specifications issued by the bottling industry. They are also, tough. They are take considerably more abuse then balls for example.

In addition, many strategies can be employed to handle these bottles, just examine a bottling plant, they are handled by suction manipulators, by self centering grippers that conform to the "lip" found just below the cap etc.

And, in order to get that many bottles...FREE REFRESHMENTS (just kidding), maybe contact a local bottler to see if they would be interested in selling/donating unfilled bottles(if I remember correctly, they cost only about 9 cents each and the caps are another 5)

Perhaps, these bottles could be collected and then funneled into smaller game pieces like boxes or bins with attached lids (think recycling bins) so the team could collect the bottles and put them into the larger boxes. Those boxes would be scored differently.

I really donno what would make a good game. I haven't thought about it alot, but I thought I would tell y'all about the bottles. Perhaps they can be Incorporated into another's design.

Best luck!
-Andy

[kpugh]

Originally Posted by andy

I read this somewhere on chiefdelphi along time ago (and I would give credit to whomever came up with this but alas, I cannot remember)

It was posted as a joke, "evidence" of next years game. The person had claimed to have found (at FIRST HQ) hundreds of the new game pieces; 2 liter soda bottles.
-Andy

Just imagine the caffeine high the FIRST people will be on after drinking all that soda to provide us with enough empty bottles for the game!!!

[andy]

I hate to bring up an old thread but...

I have an idea for an interesting game piece. How about something hanging, like from a pendelum.

Here's my idea, a doughnut shaped gamepiece hanging on a hook which is attached to a long rope hanging from something high.

This gamepiece would be very hard (but not impossible) to grab and would require innovative manipulator design.

The rope when pulled, could activate say, a ball drop, or autanamous mode for the other team.

Run with it

-Andy